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Show news, research on this genre has gravitated toward journalism associated with the environmental movement of the 1960s. The birth of the national park system and its growth in popularity provides an environmental issue that journalists covered extensively before and since the 1960s. Specifically, the creation of Utah's five national parks provides an opportunity to examine the evolution of environmental journalism associated with one issue and broaden the literature on journalism history and environmental history. Kovarik wrote, "Public dialogue over the environment would be a little easier today if we had a sense of history about it; ifwe understood the democratic traditions of debate about public health and natural resource issues; if we understood the Green Crusaders and the journalists who made sure they had a public voicc." 17 From the early twentieth century - as journalism in the East was moving toward the model set by Ochs and journalism in the West was emerging from the frontier booster press - Schudson noted the development of specialized reporting, which "could provide the reporter greater capacity to be critical of his sources." 18 The 1920s saw reporters specializing in labor, science, and agriculture. The emergence of specialized reporting is particularly relevant to research in the history of environmental journalism, and it coincides with the birth of the national park movement in Utah. This dissertation explores environmental journalism of the twentieth century through reporting on Utah's national parks. By examining news coverage ofan environmental issue that spans the twentieth century, this work offers context to current 17 William Kovarik, ·"Green Crusaders and the News Media: Exploring the Lost History of Environmental Conflict Before Silent Spring" (lecture, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Dlocksburg, VA,Scptember 25, 1998). 11 Schudson, DiscOl'ering the News, 145. |
